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October 16th, 2012
Former Y&R EP & Head Writer Maria Arena Bell On Current Episodes: “I had nothing to do with the way they are resolving these stories!”

Photo Credit: Kathy Hutchins

According to Soap Opera Digest, Y&R’s recently ousted executive producer and head writer, Maria Arena Bell wanted to make sure that fans of the number one soap know that she is not responsible for the way the current stories that are airing at this time are being resolved!

In fact, Bell took to her facebook page to reveal that her name is being included as a writer in the opening credits in the first week of material from new head scribe, Josh Griffith!

Maria posted, “To any Y&R viewers who read my Facebook page… I had NOTHING to do with the way they are resolving these stories. Despite my name still being on the show— which it should not be — I did not intend to have Phyllis’ trial end with charges being dropped or any of these other storylines now playing. I am no longer a part of this show in ANY way, folks. It’s all the new guys.”

So soapers, are you liking the way that the new regime is thus far resolving the stories created originally by Maria Arena Bell and her writing team? Are you pissed off that Phyllis’ trial ended with the charges against her being dropped? Let us know!

The entire stories that are going on are the after math of Tornado Maria! Is this one for real??? How is she kidding! She started these stories and now they have to do major damage control! This women is so dysolutioned!

SHE IS KIDDING RIGHT Y & R IS BETTER THE LAST FEW WKS THAN IT HAS BEEN IN YRS, M BELL SCREWED UP Y&r
as a matter of fact my 2 best friends and I quit watching because of her

now jill pharen phelps maybe be the best thing for y & R

i enjoyed her over at General hosptial for yrs so good luck jill

she did good by cleaning house with the boring characters on the show
and need to clean house more , get rid of cain, lily,and michaels sister
heck i cannot remember her name that how much she has impressed me
also daisy boring why bring her back? and pls not another sheila storyline,
and oh yeah what about diane(that was a mb mess) maura west played carly
on atwt for yrs then she puts her on y&r as diane about 2-3 months after
atwt is cancelled what a dumb move. just my opinion
their are more losers that need to be gone from Y&R but i just cannot think
right now thats how much I have lost interest

I say Victor Newman is Y&R and either you like him or you dont but he
must be doing something right and of course love Katherine C. best yeal

good luck jill phelps with juicing up the storyline, victor should be the core
of the show along with katherine, like she stated on the talk(another boring
show daytime talk) no one cares about, she was right you have to stay with
familes and not bring in newbies with no connection with the core familes
cause no one cares who they are.

poor maria arena bell
a soap story she could not tell
she thought she was the best
why, is anyone’s guess
cuz her viewers thought they were in hell
so her bosses told her to go
not she is crying they are ruining my show
sorry sister, no one is buying what you are trying to sell

Sorry Maria, but I’m happy your stories are ending in ways you didn’t want them to. The series was beginning to end because of you. Luckily, now we have a chance. You’re not a Bell, you shouldn’t have been in charge period!

I think Josh and Jill are doing there best fixing the Maria bell storm. Don’t let the women near the building Hahahaha I love how they are giving us a Emmy performance in Sharon Case! Today’s show was like WOW oh WOW! Adam is coming to help her yes! Chelsea doesn’t get Adam they no way have to romance Sharon and Adam have. it’s tender sweet . Jack is on top!!! YES!!!!!!! … Maira bell would Never ever ever let Victor loose! She wanted Sharon in the loony bin! The actress has so much more in her than i ever thought. Bravo josh and Jill

how about a nikki sharon pairing? that would have been the logical next step –once the serial newman/abbott wives run out to of newman men by all means move on to the ladies.

or pull a Lysistrata–and have the women trapped at the spa, realize that its the male characters who are the real whores on this show (and most soaps) and refuse to have sex with anyone until the fellas are held accountable for at least some of their crimes. Why is it that when Jack and Victor have slept with virtually every woman on the show except their own blood relatives (and they are probably only a dna switch story away from moving on to siblings and supposed daughters) no one calls them sluts?

or show that the real reason jack and victor keep marrying each other’s exes (and sometimes each others children) is their sublimated lust for each other.

The new super couple “Vack” or “Jicktor” !

Honestly, there was a period that y and r was the standard bearer of smart multi generational soaps (give jeanne cooper a plot again please)–this past year the show has played out like a more bizarre version of the fraternity row final on OLTL without the affection for the genre–and maria bell has the nerve to try to disclaim how people try to reboot her mess?

Too BAD!!!!! I’m convinced they only kept her name in the credits because they were finishing up the crap strories she had crammed down our throats. Goes to show how bitter she is, can’t even accept common courtesy from the new regime. Glad you are gone Maria. Stick to art gallas, this is more your speed.

I for one am happy with the resolution to the Phyllis/hit & run story – I said it time and time again that the Bug was NOT a Federal agent at the time! Can you imagine how much more MAB would have driven that story into the ground?!? I shudder to think…!!

JG did his homework went back to the past and used the past to close the story – ’nuff said! Had MAB done her homework and worked within the vast history of “Y & R”, she might have been able to tell a compelling story, but like most of her work, it was becoming plot-driven and most of all, tedious.

I have been enjoying the last 3 days of “Y & R” – glad you’re gone, Maria Arena Bell!!

I am glad I did not have to endure a tedious trail and hear Phyllis say over and over “are you kidding me, are you kidding me.” Phyllis did pay, she lost her marriage and the respect of her daughter by trying to cover her butt because she thought she was perserving her family. It was poetic justice, in trying to protect her “family” she destroyed it. I loved the scene when Nick (powerfully played by JM) told Phyllis, she was the one who destroyed everything, it was her fault. And I loved the look on Christine’s face when the judge told her off, it was nice to see the so called good girl not get her way too. Now let us hope they end Paul’s trail as quickly as they did this one.

Phyllis has paid. Given her history we understand why family is so important to her, in her desperation to cover her crimes in order to stay with her family, she lied so much she destoyed her family. This is justice to me. Dr Phil would say Phyllis created the very situation she feared. Did she go to jail? No, but character is living her own emotional nightmare and if I was writing the show I would have Phyllis have her own mental breakdown and end up Fairview with Sharon. Wouldn’t that be fun to see these two former rivals end up bonding over shambles their lives are because they dare to love a Newman.

I’m not that happy with the way they seem to be resolving some of these stories so quickly. I would’ve liked for Phyllis to pay in some way for her crimes, hopefully Christine will get her with a civil suit. I can for the life of me understand why they recast Summer that new actress looks like she’s pushing 30!!

I am not surprised the MAB mess is being hastily closed. The quicker done, the sooner we forget this sad chapter in Y&R history. Still, I could use a rest from Phyllis and sending her to prison for a time would be fine by me. She is a strong character but I think we need to put her on a shelf, allow her some self-reflection, and then come back new (or seemingly so) to reclaim what is hers, or maybe start over.

I had to laugh when I read that. She has not handled being let go with any dignity. I’m sure it sucks to get fired but she deserved it. She was a cancer to Y&R. The fact that she is calling out to the very fans she dismissed for years is pathetic. Where the hell was she when we were trying to clarify things? We wanted a better show!! We screamed from the top of our lungs for a better show!! All we got was the same generic recycled garbage over and over again. She dodged questions all the time about fan reaction and spun it into something she wanted to believe. Just recently she did a two part exit interview with Soaps In Depth. When asked about viewer dissatisfaction she answered something to the effect of, “if all you do is listen to focus groups, blogs or mail your going to get a skewed view because they always have the most dramatic opinions.” That pretty much sums up anyone who dares to speak out against what she was doing. That she would even need to clarify with us that the last 3 episodes have not been her work is laughable. It’s much better than anything we got out of her. The characters suddenly sound human again. She should be thrilled her name is attached to writing that she is incapable of producing. As for the Phyllis story being dropped, it makes complete sense. The writing on Monday was spot on. All Maria ever did was make crap up to push her idiot plots forward. I was watching the show back then and the judge was absolutely right. Christine was in no way a federal employee. Revisiting the Phyllis story could have been great under a better scribe. Frankly the whole show could have been better under a more talented scribe. Maria is delusional at best. I think Andy Cohen at Bravo should sign her on to the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills cast. I smell a Teresa Guidice clone. Never taking responsibility for ANYTHING!!!!!

CHRIS< O M G! Girl you are so right! SNAP! I'm a 32 year Y&R fan years watching. I was with Phyllis back them. I liked Cricket and Not a Phyllis fan but I much rather see drucilla come back to torcher her. LOl Those were the day's. The stories MAB wrote could of worked if they were written soooo different and better, The acting was all Bipolar. Even there acting is so much better already. I can't wait for Sharon's brakdown wow what a performance I saw a sneak peak and she had me with chills and so sad for her I felt REAL emotion for the first time in months from a character, Great job

I”m also happy that these awful s/ls are mercifully being brought to an end. This conceited woman never knew anything about telling a logical, coherent story. The only thing that I agree with her about is that her name should no longer be in the credits. Adios, MAB…and you might consider seeking a little therapy for that over-inflated ego of yours.

The Phyllis storyline should never have been revisted let sleeping dogs lie. Just tell me this means an end to the endless arm flying running around in our underwear and saying it is everybody’s fault I am a D/Bag! Get Sharon some much needed counseling let Victor lose everything and lets rock and roll. Lol!

OMG! So she didn’t write the ending of these storylines and I say AMEN to that! The show is so much better now. The only difference that Ms Bell would have made in the Phyllis s/l, is that she would have dragged it on and on and on…until it would have ended the same way it did: either a mistrial or a dismissal.

She is no longer part of this show and I hope that she will NEVER ever be again. She has made a mockery of this once classic soap that William J. Bell created and let’s hope that this new regime will repair some of the damage she has done. So far, I am pleased withe the decisions and the direction they are taking.

I was very happy with the Phyllis resolution. Y&R is populated with naughty characters reaching redemption: Nikki, Victor, Lauren, Jill, Nina, Michael, Kevin, etc. etc. etc. Also, the naughty side of me was cheering Phyllis on all those years ago, because I totally did not like Cricket OR a Cricket and Paul pairing. Boring doesn’t do it for me on my soap. My life is boring enough. hehe. I want naughty, juicy characters stirring it up, and Phyllis is the queen of stirring it up. Being boring and self -righteous, to me, is a bigger sin in the soap world than running over two boring characters with a rented green Taurus. Just saying ……..

Maria, dear, it’s perfectly obvious the resolution to Phyllis’s trial was something you didn’t have any part of–because what has happened since last Friday actually makes sense, unlike what had come before. Having Phyllis’s past come back to haunt her was a promising idea, but your execution was (as usual) an absolute disaster, chock full of jaw-dropping legal implausibilities, and I think having the new judge come in and point out all the holes in it was actually a pretty brilliant way of terminating something that should have never gotten as far as it did. So–thanks for the news flash about your non-involvement, but you didn’t really tell me anything I didn’t already know.

Adam and Sharon, tender? Dont make me laughChelsea is the only woman who makes Adam a better man. Jack is only interesting when fighting Victor to gain control. When a winner, he turns into a gloating, cruel bastard that will see his empire destroyed. You dont mess with Victor and his family and not pay!

I despise the way that the new writers handled Phyllis’ trial, but for Maria Arena Bell to really warn us that the new storylines aren’t hers? That is laughable. Honey, you should’ve took to facebook about the storylines you DID write so I wouldn’t have wasted years watching one of my favorite shows go down the tubes.

The Phyliss trial was a waste of time but the new writers came up with a fair resolution with PN losing her family. And Paul murdering his son is ludicrous, considering Ricky was pyscho. He was another character cut in his prime; he should have been kept around to cause more havoc. No more DAISY EVER!

Jack and Victor’s sparing is good in bits and doses. But advice to the new writers, no more Victor/Jack/Nikki marriages. Tired of musical “marriage” chairs!
i
The actor who plays Adam was correct when he said, “Do we need another Victor disappearance and death storyline?” That approach became quite old. And Adam is one of favorite characters since he can “flip a script”; his opportunism is fun to watch.

The EP and new writers could have kept Genie Francis and Marcie, especially Abbie since she was a Abbott/Newman. A cheaper recast will be on the horizon. Notwithstanding budget cuts resutling in four of the best actresses being fired, three actors have already been hired. So we will see where the storylines goes from here.

Maria, glad to know that you had nothing to do with the ending of these stories and you also had nothing to do with the way the new story lines take off. The new writer has the ability to change a story punchline whenever they want to. That’s what they are suppose to do…be creative.

Well, needless to say, the new writer is worse! It appears that every story line is pathetic. They need to get rid of the ghost (Jack’s dad)…not an interesting part nor does it have a great impact on the story. The whole Phyllis trial was outrageously horrible! The Cane and Genevive plot needs to change. Get rid of the ghost girl in their lives…not a good selling part. Why hasn’t Pauls story come to a conclusion? It has become boring. It is running too long and everything they do now seems stupid. What’s with this bizzare clue with the dream and clues that were written on a piece of paper…such ridiculous and immature writing. The story seemed to have been more interesting before than it is now. Chelsea and Adam are so boring in that dark dull looking house. Get Adam out of that situation and resurrect him; he is playing such a very dull role. Sharon’s role has gone from worser to worst.

Glad to see that Nick is more tenacious!!! One great move the writer has done. By the way, what happened to all of the stock that Abbey’s had bought? I’m just about sick of Y&R. They beguiled me; it was written that the new writer would be better, the story line would be better…not!!!

Well, to be fair it has only been a week into the new regime, it will take a bit of time to resolve some storylines in a way it will make sense for the upcoming storylines. But with any transition some thnigs will just fall by the wayside, like Abby’s stock. I too would like to see some sort of resolution to Paul’s storyline the sooner the better. I’m not a fan of this clues in the dream thing, either, but if helps end the storyline I will bear with it. If it extends it, well that would really bummed me out.

What about the “knife”???? What role does this piece of evidence play….no prints???

Mary SF replied December 29th, 2012 at 7:20 am

Claude – don’t know if you will see this, since I cannot reply directly to your comment. I don’t think the new regime is going to pursue that part of the story line. This was a MAB plot point. I cannot say for certain how the story would have gone if MAB had played it out, but my theory was, Isabella (Ricky’s mother) was planting evidence to frame Paul for murder. It was also my belief that Ricky would eventually turn up alive and working with his mother to get even with Paul. I also believe the lady that sprung Daisy from the hospital was Isabella, in order to stop Daisy from helping Paul. But atlas we will never know for certain because the new writing team dropped the whole thing- these things happen sometimes.

It’s very evident that the writing was not maria’s, thank goodness that crap is over with and the very over acting antics of michelle stafford, someone get this woman some lessons, I don’t remember her being this bad, it’s like she hated the complete storyline in the beginning and started mucking it up. The new Noah debuted and he can act, the new summer on the other hand seems to have taken lessons from michelle. Looking forward to some good storylines with this new writing team, “fingers crossed”.

Well I got caught up on some episodes and I am a little upset the character of Harmony says two words and then poof she is gone without Devon being there very tacky. Word to you JG yes your hatred for MAB is showing but do not take it out on actresses that have had nothing to do with this mess. Debbie Morgan, Genie Francis and Jennifer Landon all emmy actresses they deserved a better write off then this. Just tacky I agree they did not fold in like they could have but this is a slap in their faces that they did not deserve.This should not be personal it should be business so far I am seeing repeats again. I mean do we really need a Jack & Victor fight again and pleae just put a sock in Nikki’s mouth.

I have watched since I was 11 .. yes 11 years old… please fire Phelps .. the show is sooo boring I find myself fast forward thru the pointless dialogue and clearly having no interest the schizophrenic story lines ..

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